According to court papers a Los Angeles judge granted Spielberg's request against Diana Louisa Napolis, 47, who Spielberg's security team believes suffers from a delusional disorder and poses "a serious risk of violent confrontation" with the filmmaker.
In court statements, Spielberg's staff members said they grew concerned after Napolis told them of plans to confront the director at a movie premiere. Napolis claimed in a 13-page manifesto that she believed Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw, were part of a "satanic cult" that had implanted a microchip in her brain called a "soul catcher" that was controlling her. She allegedly believed the cult was operating out of Spielberg's basement.
Based on the statement as well as Napolis's alleged confrontation with another actress and a 2001 arrest in San Diego on charges of unlawfully discharging a firearm the judge ruled that she posed a "credible threat."
In his own court declaration, Spielberg, 55, described her actions as "alarming and threatening."
"I am concerned for my safety and security and for the safety and security of my family and others around me," he said. He also pointed out that, "to state the obvious, I am not involved with any form of manipulating Ms. Napolis's mind or body through remote technology or otherwise."
A spokesman for Spielberg on Friday declined to comment further on the restraining order. For her part, Napolis wrote in her statement that she did not intend to harm Spielberg.
This isn't Spielberg's first run-in with an allegedly obsessed fan. In February, he was granted a restraining order against an aspiring Canadian actor who apparently sneaked onto the Universal Studios lot in hopes of getting noticed by the director.
In 1998, a man named Jonathan Norman was convicted of felony stalking and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after concocting a plan to take Spielberg's family hostage.
